Method and system for improving dynamic range for communication systems using upstream analog information

ABSTRACT

The receiver is provided which comprises a mixer, a low pass filter coupled to the mixer and a plurality of gain controllers serially coupled to an output of the low pass filter (LPF). A plurality of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) is coupled so that an input of a first of the ADCs is coupled to the output of the LPF. An input of each of a remaining portion of the ADCs is individually coupled to a corresponding output of each of the serially coupled gain blocks. An output path traced from the output of the LPF to an output of each of the analog-to-digital converters may be referred to as a processing path. Each processing path may comprise a gain controller and an ADC, except for the first processing path, which may have an ADC coupled directly to the output of the LPF.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS/INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/810,405 filed Mar. 26, 2004, which makes reference to, claimspriority to, and claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser.No. 60/551,267 filed Mar. 8, 2004.

The above stated application is hereby incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the invention relate to packet based wirelesscommunication systems. More specifically, certain embodiments of theinvention relate to a method and system for improving dynamic range forcommunication systems such as 802.11 systems using upstream analoginformation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In packet-based wireless communication systems, a transmitted packet maybe received with a large range of signal strengths, that is, a widedynamic range. For example, in an 802.11 system, there may be as much asa 100 dB difference in signal strength between packets received atreceiver A sent from transmitter B versus a packet received by receiverA sent from transmitter C. Factors accounting for this variation includepath loss and fading characteristics of a RF propagation channel, forexample. Path loss may include attenuation losses incurred due to thedistance existing between a transmitter and a receiver. Fadingcharacteristics of the RF propagation channel may include multipathinterference destructively combining to reduce the strength of thesignal received at the receiver. A well-designed communicationtransceiver must perform reliably given these impairments that arecharacteristic of wireless media. In this regard, a goal of awell-designed communication transceiver is to mitigate thesecharacteristic impairments. In order to achieve this goal, a practicalreceiver may make use of automatic gain control (AGC). Automatic gaincontrol can be described as an algorithm that may be adapted toautomatically adjust signal size in order to maximize some parameter.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional receiver system thatutilizes gain control. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional receivercomprises a mixer 102, a gain block 104, analog-to-digital converter(ADC) 106 and gain control block 108. The conventional receiver may bepart of a packet-based wireless system, which is adapted to receive asignal that is transmitted at a particular carrier frequency.

In operation, the mixer 102 receives an input received signal and mixesthe received signal with a tuning frequency to generate a basebandsignal. The gain block 104 applies an initial gain G_(initial) to thebaseband signal, and the AGC algorithm will apply a final gain outputgain G_(final) to the data portion of the packet. The analog to digitalconverter (ADC) 106 converts the analog signal to digital samples, whichare subsequently processed.

A good AGC algorithm that may be implemented in the gain block 108, isadapted to choose or provide a final gain value G_(final) dB to apply tothe data portion of the packet such that the signal to quantizationnoise ratio out of the ADC is maximized. Additionally, the final gainvalue G_(final) dB is chosen so that it is not too large as to cause anoverflow to occur at the ADC during reception of the packet. The firstcriterion maximizes the signal to quantization noise ratio (SQNR) forthe packet, and the second criterion prevents the packet from almostcertainly being received with errors due to signal distortion. Awell-designed gain block 108 is configured to execute an AGC algorithmthat will accomplish this task.

Referring to FIG. 1, in L₁ and L₂ represents the limits of the ADC 106.In case 1, G_(final) is too small and the resulting analog signal, whichis an input to the ADC 106, does not optimally utilize the limits L₁ andL₂ of the ADC 106. Accordingly, the AGC algorithm would have made a poordecision or choice. In case 2, G_(final) is too large and the resultinganalog signal, which is an input to the ADC 106, does not optimallyutilize the limits L₁ and L₂ since these limits of the ADC 106 areexceeded. Since the limits L₁, L₂ of the ADC are exceeded, clipping ofthe signal occurs. Accordingly, the AGC algorithm would have made a poordecision or choice. In case 3, G_(final) is ideal and the resultinganalog signal, which is an input to the ADC 106, optimally utilizes thelimits L₁ and L₂ Of the ADC 106. In this case, no clipping of the analogsignal occurs. Accordingly, the AGC algorithm would have made an idealdecision or choice.

For 802.11 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems,the gain G_(final) is calculated and applied during the preamble portionof the packet. The preamble of the packet is relatively short in timecompared to the overall packet length, and corrections for other systemimpairments such as frequency offset may also need to be calculatedduring this portion of the transmission. Thus, the amount of time neededto determine the proper gain setting for the received packet needs to bekept small. For a practical 802.11a/g orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing system, this means it is likely at most one intermediategain setting G_(intermediate) is allowed during the preamble todetermine the final gain G_(final).

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the application of gain to a packet.Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a packet 200 having a preambleportion 202 and a data portion 204. The leftmost portion of the packet200 is the demarcation of the start of packet (SOP) and the rightmostportion of the packet 200 is the demarcation of the end-of-packet EOP.The gain G_(final) is applied at reference A, which occurs during thepreamble portion 202 of the packet 200. In this case, G_(final) isgreater than G_(initial) (G_(final)>G_(initial)).

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the application of gain to a packet.Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a packet 300 having a preambleportion 302 and a data portion 304. The leftmost portion of the packet300 is the demarcation of the start of packet (SOP) and the rightmostportion of the packet 300 is the demarcation of the end-of-packet EOP. Again G_(initial) is in effect at the start-of-packet (SOP) whereclipping is occurring. A gain G_(intermediate) is applied at reference Bwhere no clipping occurs but the signal is too small. A gain G_(final)is applied at reference C where no clipping occurs and the signal isideal. In this case, G_(initial), G_(intermediate) and G_(final) areapplied during the preamble.

In order for a receiver to detect small receiver signal input, theinitial front-end gain G_(initial) must necessarily be set to a largevalue. However, if the incoming signal is in fact large, the signallevel at the output of the ADC will be clipped, making it difficult todetermine the received signal power. That is, if a received signal powerof X dBm is enough to cause a clip at the ADC, then all received signalpowers greater than X dBm also cause a clip.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditionalapproaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, throughcomparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention asset forth in the remainder of the present application with reference tothe drawings.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the invention may be found in a method and systemfor improving dynamic range using upstream analog information. Aspectsof the method may comprise generating a plurality of upstream analogsignals for a received signal. Upstream analog information related to atleast a portion of the generated plurality of upstream analog signalsmay be acquired. A gain for the received signal may be adjusted using atleast a portion of the acquired upstream analog information to increasedynamic range of the received signal.

The received signal is low pass filtered to generate a plurality ofnarrowband analog signals. At least one sample may be acquired from atleast a portion of the generated plurality of upstream analog signalsand a power for the received signal may be computed based on theacquired sample or samples. A determination may be made as to whetherthe generated plurality of upstream analog signals is clipped. Anintermediate gain may be generated based on the computed power of theacquired sample and applied to one or more of the generated plurality ofupstream analog signals if the signal is clipped. The computed power maybe compared to a plurality of defined power values and a gain selectedbased on the comparison. The defined power values may be stored inlookup table, for example. A final gain may be applied to the receivedsignal. The generated plurality of upstream analog signals may beconverted to corresponding time domain signals.

Another embodiment of the invention may provide a machine-readablestorage, having stored thereon, a computer program having at least onecode section executable by a machine, thereby causing the machine toperform the steps as described above for processing received signals ina communication system.

Another embodiment of the invention provides a system for processingreceived signals. Aspects of the system may comprise a receiver thatgenerates a plurality of upstream analog signals for a received signal.The generated plurality of upstream analog signals may be narrowbandanalog signals. At least one processor may acquire upstream analoginformation related to at least a portion of the generated plurality ofupstream analog signals. At least one automatic gain controller may beadapted to adjust a gain for the received signal using at least aportion of the acquired upstream analog information to increase adynamic range of the received signal.

The system may further comprise at least one low pass filter thatfilters the received signal. The processor may acquire at least onesample from at least a portion the generated plurality of upstreamanalog signals and compute a power based on the acquired sample. Theprocessor may be adapted to determine when at least one of the generatedplurality of upstream analog signal is clipped. The automatic gaincontroller may generate an intermediate gain based on the computed powerof the acquired sample. The processor may apply the generatedintermediate gain to the generated plurality of upstream analog signals.After comparing the computed power to a plurality of defined powervalues, which may be stored in a lookup table, the processor may selecta gain based on a comparable power value. The automatic gain controllermay be utilized to apply a final gain to the received packet. Thereceiver may be adapted to convert the generated plurality of upstreamanalog signals to corresponding time domain signals.

Another embodiment of the invention provides a receiver for processingreceived communication signals. The receiver may comprise a mixer, a lowpass filter coupled to the mixer and a plurality of gain block seriallycoupled to an output of the low pass filter. The system may alsocomprise a plurality of analog to digital converters, wherein an inputof a first of the analog-to-digital converters is coupled to the outputof the low pass filter. An input of each of a remaining portion of theanalog-to-digital converters is individually coupled to a correspondingoutput of each of the serially coupled gain blocks. An output pathtraced from the output of the low pass filter to an output of each ofthe analog-to-digital converters may be referred to as a processingpath. Accordingly, each of the processing paths may comprise a gaincontroller and an analog to digital converter, except for the firstprocessing path, which may have an ADC coupled directly to the output ofthe low pass filter.

These and other advantages, aspects and novel features of the presentinvention, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof, willbe more fully understood from the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional receiver system thatutilizes gain control.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the application of gain to a packet.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the application of gain to a packet.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a receiver that may be utilized forimproving dynamic range using upstream analog information in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating variations in signal sizes asgain is applied to a baseband signal in the processing chain of FIG. 4in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a receiver that may be utilized forimproving dynamic range using upstream analog information in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary steps that may be utilizedfor improving dynamic range using upstream analog information inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 a is a diagram illustrating a case having no WRSSI and/or NBDO-xinformation, which may be utilized in connection with improving dynamicrange using upstream analog information in accordance with an embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 8 b is a diagram illustrating a case having WRSSI and/or NBDO-xinformation, which may be utilized in connection with improving dynamicrange using upstream analog information in accordance with an embodimentof the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Certain aspects of the invention may be found in a method and system forimproving dynamic range using upstream analog information. One aspect ofthe invention employs narrow band direct out (NBDO) signal and/orwideband received signal strength indicator (WRSSI) aided automatic gaincontrol (NBDO/WRSSI-aided AGC) which observes the received input signalfurther upstream in the processing chain such as in the earlier stagesof analog processing. Digital samples of NBDO information may beutilized to determine a more accurate gain to be applied in order toprovide a more accurate calculation of the received signal power forautomatic gain control. Accordingly, a wide range in the received inputpowers may be more efficiently and accurately demodulated.

In one aspect of the invention, a correct gain setting which is to beapplied may be determined by observing a received signal before itreaches an analog to digital converter (ADC). In other words, upstreamanalog information may be utilized to determine an optimal gain thatshould be applied to the received signal. Digital samples of narrowbanddirect out (NBDO) information generated by low pass filtering thereceived signal may be utilized to provide a more accurate calculationof the received signal power for automatic gain control. Accordingly,after applying the determined gain, a wider range in the received inputpowers may be correctly demodulated.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a receiver that may be utilized forimproving dynamic range using upstream analog information in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 4, the receivercomprises a mixer 402, a low pass filter (LPF) block 404, a plurality ofgain (G) blocks 406 a, 406 b, . . . , 406 n, and analog-to-digitalconverter (ADC) block 408. The receiver may be part of a packet-basedwireless system, which may be adapted to receive a signal that istransmitted at a particular carrier frequency.

In operation, the mixer 402 receives an input received signal X andmixes the received signal with a tuning frequency to generate a basebandsignal. The resulting baseband signal may be referred to as a widebandreceived signal (WRS) and an indication of its signal strength may bereferred to as a wideband received signal strength indicator (WRSSI).The resulting baseband signal is low pass filtered by the low passfilter block 404 to generate a narrowband signal which may be referredto as a first narrowband direct output (NBDO-1) signal.

In the analog processing chain of FIG. 4, an overall gain G may beapplied in a plurality of gain stages. For example, the analog sectionmay comprise n stages, each of which applies a corresponding gain G₁,G₂, . . . , G_(n) (dB) respectively. Accordingly, the overall gain G isgiven by:G=G ₁ +G ₂ + . . . +G _(n).

Referring to FIG. 4, each of the gain blocks i applies a gain G_(i) to anarrowband direct signal that it receives. In this regard, the gainblock 406 a applies an initial gain G₁ dB to the first narrowband signalNBDO-1 and generates an analog second narrowband signal NBDO-2. The gainblock 406 b applies a gain G₂ dB to the second narrowband signal NBDO-2and generates an analog narrowband signal NBDO-3, and so on. The gainblock 406(n) applies a gain G_(n) dB to the nth narrowband signal NBDO-nand generates an output that is provided as an input to the ADC 408. Theanalog to digital converter (ADC) 408 converts the analog signal todigital samples, which are subsequently processed.

In order to detect small receiver signal inputs, the overall initialgain G_(initial) may be set to a large value. However, if the incominginput signal X is itself large, then the overall signalY=(10ˆ(G_(initial)/20))*X seen at the output of the ADC 408 may be largeenough such that clipping will occur at the ADC 408, and thus the outputof the ADC 408 will not provide reliable information of the signalstrength of X. In this case, it may not be possible to use the output ofthe ADC 408 to determine an appropriate final gain G_(final) to beapplied to the data portion of the packet. To address this issue, if theoutputs of the intermediate stages of the analog processing chain areavailable, for example WRSSI, NBDO-1, NBDO-2, then these outputs offeran earlier view of the signal before it reaches the ADC. The signals,which are earlier in the processing chain, will necessarily be smallerand may not already be clipped. If the gains G₁, G₂, . . . , G_(n) areknown, it is possible to narrow down a range within which the inputsignal lies.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating variations in signal sizes asgain is applied to a baseband signal in the processing chain of FIG. 4in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 5,the receiver comprises a mixer 502, a low pass filter (LPF) block 504, aplurality of gain (Gi) blocks 506 a, 506 b, . . . 506 n, andanalog-to-digital converter (ADC) block 508. As more gain is applied tothe baseband signal, the signal gets larger and larger until clippingstarts to occur.

There may be, in general, insufficient granularity of the informationprovided by WRSSI, NBDO-1, NBDO-2, and so on, to determine a finalpacket gain G_(final) with enough accuracy with just the initial gainsetting G_(initial). Although the 802.11a/g OFDM preamble is relativelyshort in time compared to the length of the packet, there is stillsufficient time to allow at least one intermediate gain change before afinal gain has to be applied to the rest of the packet and still performother tasks that need to be accomplished during the preamble. Thus, anintermediate gain G_(intermediate) may be chosen based on the output ofthe analog gain stage outputs. If the intermediate gain is appropriatelychosen, then digital samples will not clip, and these samples may beused to determine a good final gain value G_(final).

In general, the output of the intermediate gain stages requiresprocessing in order to determine the received input signal power. Theraw data by itself may be insufficient to accurately determine the powerlevel. In an aspect of the invention, analog blocks may be utilized toaccomplish this processing. While this may seem relatively simple to do,in practice, there may be enough variation to make the calculatedreceived input power somewhat unreliable for an AGC algorithm. A morereliable method may comprise sampling the NBDO-x outputs with ADCs andcalculating the power in the digital domain. In this regard, thevariation in analog processing may be removed.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a receiver 600 that may be utilized forimproving dynamic range using upstream analog information in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 6, the receivercomprises a mixer 602, a low pass filter (LPF) 604, a plurality of gainblocks 606 a, 606 b, . . . , 606 n, analog-to-digital converters (ADC)612 a, 612 b, 612 c, . . . , 612 n, gain control block 614 and ADCprocessing paths 610 a, 610 b, . . . , 610 n. The receiver of FIG. 6 mayalso comprise a processor block 622 and a memory block 624.

An input of the low pass filter 604 may be coupled to an output of themixer 602. The plurality of gain blocks 606 a, 606 b, . . . , 606 n, maybe serially coupled to an output of the low pass filter 604. A first ADC612 a of the plurality of analog-to-digital converters 612 a, 612 b, . .. , 612 n may be coupled to the output of the low pass filter 604. Aninput of each of a remaining portion of the analog-to-digitalconverters, namely 612 b, . . . 612 n, may be individually coupled to acorresponding output of each of the serially coupled gain blocks 606 a,606 b, . . . , 606 n. In this regard, analog-to-digital converter 612 bis coupled to an output of gain block 606 a, and analog-to-digitalconverter 612 n is coupled to an output of gain block 606(n-1) (notshown), for example. The analog-to-digital converter 608 may be coupledto an output of gain block 606 n.

An output path traced from the output of the low pass filter 604 to anoutput of each of the analog-to-digital converters 612 a, 612 b, . . . ,612 n may be referred to as a processing path. Accordingly, each of theprocessing paths may comprise a gain block and an analog to digitalconverter, except for the first processing path, which may have ananalog-to-digital converter 612 a coupled directly to the output of thelow pass filter 604. Each of the processing paths may be adapted toapply a different gain to a narrow band direct out (NBDO) signal, whichmay be generated at an output of the low pass filter 604 and/or fromsuccessive serially coupled gain blocks 606 a, 606 b, . . . , 606 n. Inthe configuration of FIG. 6, processing path 610 a may be utilized toADC process signal NBDO-1, processing path 610 b may be utilized to ADCprocess signal NBDO-2, . . . , and processing path 610 n may be utilizedto ADC process signal NBDO-n.

In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, consider a case where an802.11 a/g OFDM preamble, for example, is received. If it is determinedthat a clip has occurred at the ADC during the preamble, the AGCalgorithm may examine the WRSSI and NBDO-x values. The output(s) ofthese signals may be sampled, and a power calculation may be done basedon a summation of the magnitude squared of the samples.

Although it may not be feasible to have all NBDO-x outputs available asdigital samples and since ADCs are relatively large power consumingdevices, a subset of these signals may still be quite useful. Forexample, assume that only the NBDO-1 signal is being utilized and it issampled for a short training period of 0.8 μsec at a rate of 40Msamples/sec. Then, the collected power is given by:${{Power}\quad{from}\quad{NBDO}\text{-}1} = {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{32}\left( {{samples}\quad{of}\quad{NBDO}\text{-}1(j)^{2}} \right)}$

A value of the collected power may be compared to a table of thresholds,which correspond to an input signal power at fixed values. Based on thiscomparison, an intermediate gain may be applied which may enabledetection of carrier sense (CS) and prevent clipping at the ADC. Thisintermediate gain may provide a more accurate power estimate that may beutilized by the automatic gain controller to determine a more precisefinal gain that is to be applied to the packet. In this regard aplurality of intermediate gains may be generated and these intermediategains may be utilized to more accurately determine final gain to beapplied to the packet by the AGC. FIG. 6 shows a single channel ofreceived signals from the output of a single mixer for ease ofexplanation. However, a RF receiver, such as the receiver 600, maycomprise a plurality of mixers for demodulating a plurality of channels,such as, for example, I and Q channels, of the received signal. Thereceived signal may also be downconverted to a single intermediatefrequency (IF) channel, and the IF channel may be demodulated to, forexample, the I and Q channels. Accordingly, a plurality of upstreamanalog information may be generated for a single channel, or for theplurality of channels, for example, the I and Q channels, of thereceived signal.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary steps that may be utilizedfor improving dynamic range using upstream analog information inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 7, instep 702, it may be determined whether a valid preamble is detected. Ifa valid preamble is determined, in step 710, the final gain G_(final)may be chosen and processing continued with step 702. If a validpreamble is not determined, in step 704, it may be determined whetherthe signal is clipped. If the signal is not clipped, processingcontinues at step 702. If the signal is clipped, then over a specifiedperiod, for example, 0.8 microseconds (μs), NBDO samples may becollected and the power computed. In step 708, the computed power may becompared to a table of values and the appropriate intermediate gainG_(intermediate) may be applied. The period or interval over whichsamples are collected may be implementation dependent and other valuesother that 0.8 μs may be utilized. The value 0.8 μs has particularsignificance in 802.11 a/g applications. Accordingly, other applicationsmay utilize a different value.

In instances where a wideband received signal (WRS) has not beenbandwidth limited, a wideband received signal (WRSS) may not bedigitally sampled without aliasing. However, analog processedinformation of the WRS may be band limited and may therefore be utilizedto provide a useful measure for aiding with automatic gain control. Inthis regard, analog processed information of the WRS may be utilized todetermine a more accurate final gain G_(final) and/or a more accuratedistribution of that final gain, which may be derived from theindividually applied gain values of G₁, G₂, . . . , G_(n). In accordancewith an embodiment of the invention, signals with a much wider dynamicrange of received input powers may be more precisely demodulated.Accordingly, the receiver 600 of FIG. 6 provides a much wider dynamicrange in the received input powers, which permits more accuratedemodulation of the received signal.

FIG. 8 a is a diagram illustrating a case having no WRSSI and/or NBDO-xinformation, which may be utilized in connection with improving dynamicrange using upstream analog information in accordance with an embodimentof the invention. Referring to FIG. 8 a, there is illustrated a firstrange 802 and a second range 804. The range of 0 to −100 dBm is utilizedfor illustrative purposes and is not intended to limit the invention toa range of 100 dB. The first range 802 illustrates a range of receivedinput powers where a fixed single value G_(intermediate) results in acorrectly received packet. The second range 804 illustrates a range ofreceived input powers where a fixed single value G_(initial) results ina correctly received packet.

Without access to information such as WRSSI and/or NBDO-x, higherreceived input powers cannot be differentiated using only the samplesout of the ADC. If there is sufficient time to apply an intermediategain G_(intermediate), then at best only a single fixed value ofG_(intermediate) may be applied when a clip at the ADC has occurred. Bydoing so, the input range associated with this scheme may not be aslarge as would be otherwise possible if the intermediate gain valueG_(intermediate) was more intelligently chosen.

FIG. 8 b is a diagram illustrating a case having WRSSI and/or NBDO-xinformation, which may be utilized in connection with improving dynamicrange using upstream analog information in accordance with an embodimentof the invention. Referring to FIG. 8 b, there is illustrated a firstrange 818, a second range 816, a third range 814 up to an n^(th) range812. The range of 0 to −100 dBm is utilized for illustrative purposesand is not intended to limit the invention to a range of 100 dB. Therange 812 illustrates a range of received input powers where a fixedsingle value G_(intermediate,n) may be applied to result in a correctlyreceived packet. The range 814 illustrates a range of received inputpowers where a fixed single value G_(intermediate,2) may be applied toresult in a correctly received packet. The range 816 illustrates a rangeof received input powers where a fixed single value G_(intermediate,1)may be applied to result in a correctly received packet. The range 818illustrates a range of received input powers where a fixed single valueG_(initial) may be applied to result in a correctly received packet.Accordingly, with the use of WRSSI and/or NBDO-x information, theintermediate gain that is applied may take on one of a plurality ofvalues, resulting in an extension of the dynamic range of received inputpowers that may be correctly demodulated for a received packet.

With reference to FIG. 6, the receiver 600 may detect when a validpreamble for a packet is received and generate a plurality of upstreamanalog signals for the received packet. The generated plurality ofupstream analog signals may comprise narrowband analog signals NBDO-1,NBDO-2, . . . , NBDO-n. A processor 622 may acquire upstream analoginformation related to at least a portion of the generated plurality ofupstream analog signals. At least one of a plurality of gain blocks 606a, 606 b, . . . , 606 n may be adapted to adjust a gain for the receivedpacket using at least a portion of the acquired upstream analoginformation to increase a dynamic range of the received packet.

The receiver 600 may further comprise at least one low pass filter 604that is adapted to low pass filter the received packet. The processor622 may acquire at least one sample from at least a portion thegenerated plurality of upstream analog signals NBDO-1, NBDO-2, . . . ,NBDO-n and compute a power based on the acquired sample. The processor622 may be adapted to determine when at least one of the generatedplurality of upstream analog signals NBDO-1, NBDO-2, . . . , NBDO-n isclipped. At least one of the gain blocks 606 a, 606 b, . . . , 606 n maygenerate an intermediate gain based on the computed power of theacquired sample. The processor 622 may apply the generated intermediategain to at least one of the generated plurality of upstream analogsignals NBDO-1, NBDO-2, . . . , NBDO-n. After comparing the computedpower to a plurality of defined power values, the processor 622 mayselect a gain based on a comparable power value. At least one of thegain blocks 606 a, 606 b, . . . , 606 n may be utilized to apply a finalgain to the received packet upon detecting a valid preamble. Thereceiver 600 may be adapted to convert the generated plurality ofupstream analog signals NBDO-1, NBDO-2, . . . , NBDO-n to correspondingtime domain signals.

Aspects of the invention provide improvements in dynamic range for anAGC algorithm utilizing information further up the analog processingchain. Reliability is also improved by processing NBDO-x information inthe digital domain. While this method was discussed with respect to an802.11 OFDM system, the invention is not so limited and similar gainsmay be achieved for any receiver architecture that encounters similartypes of issues.

Accordingly, the present invention may be realized in hardware,software, or a combination of hardware and software. The presentinvention may be realized in a centralized fashion in at least onecomputer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elementsare spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind ofcomputer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methodsdescribed herein is suited. A typical combination of hardware andsoftware may be a general-purpose computer system with a computerprogram that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computersystem such that it carries out the methods described herein.

The present invention may also be embedded in a computer programproduct, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation ofthe methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer systemis able to carry out these methods. Computer program in the presentcontext means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of aset of instructions intended to cause a system having an informationprocessing capability to perform a particular function either directlyor after either or both of the following: a) conversion to anotherlanguage, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different materialform.

While the present invention has been described with reference to certainembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. In addition, manymodifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material tothe teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope.Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited tothe particular embodiment disclosed, but that the present invention willinclude all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

41. A method for processing signals in a communication system, themethod comprising: generating a plurality of baseband signals from areceived RF signal, wherein each of said generated baseband signalsoccupies a frequency band that is narrow with respect to a frequencyband of said received RF signals; converting at least a portion of saidgenerated baseband signals to corresponding digital signals; calculatingan intermediate gain, which enables carrier sense detection, for each ofsaid at least a portion of said generated baseband signals based on apower of each of said corresponding digital signals and based on whethersaid each of said corresponding digital signals is clipped; andadjusting a final gain of said received RF signal based on saidcalculated intermediate gain of said each of said at least a portion ofsaid generated baseband signals.
 42. The method according to claim 41,comprising sampling said each of said at least a portion of saidgenerated plurality of baseband signals during a training period. 43.The method according to claim 42, comprising determining a power of saideach of said at least a portion of said generated plurality of basebandsignals based on said sampling.
 44. The method according to claim 43,comprising summing samples resulting from said sampling to determinesaid power of each of said at least a portion of said generatedplurality of baseband signals based on said sampling narrowband signals.45. The method according to claim 44, comprising comparing saiddetermined power of said each of said at least a portion of saidgenerated plurality of baseband signals to defined threshold values. 46.The method according to claim 45, comprising selecting said final gainbased on said comparing.
 47. The method according to claim 45,comprising selecting a comparable power value corresponding to one ofsaid defined threshold values as said final gain.
 48. The methodaccording to claim 45, wherein said defined threshold values are storedin a lookup table.
 49. The method according to claim 41, comprisingdetermining whether said corresponding digital signals is clipped duringa preamble portion of packets in said received RF signals.
 50. Themethod according to claim 41, comprising applying said calculatedintermediate gain that enables said carrier sense detection to each ofsaid at least a portion of said generated plurality of upstreamnarrowband signals.
 51. A machine-readable storage, having storedthereon a computer program having at least one code section forprocessing signals in a communication system, the at least one codesection being executable by a machine for causing the machine to performthe steps comprising: generating a plurality of baseband signals from areceived RF signal, wherein each of said generated baseband signalsoccupies a frequency band that is narrow with respect to a frequencyband of said received RF signals; converting at least a portion of saidgenerated baseband signals to corresponding digital signals; calculatingan intermediate gain, which enables carrier sense detection, for each ofsaid at least a portion of said generated baseband signals based on apower of each of said corresponding digital signals and based on whethersaid each of said corresponding digital signals is clipped; andadjusting a final gain of said received RF signal based on saidcalculated intermediate gain of said each of said at least a portion ofsaid generated baseband signals.
 52. The machine-readable storageaccording to claim 51, wherein said at least one code section forprocessing signals comprises code for sampling said each of said atleast a portion of said generated plurality of baseband signals during atraining period.
 53. The machine-readable storage according to claim 52,wherein said at least one code section for processing signals comprisescode for determining a power of said each of said at least a portion ofsaid generated plurality of baseband signals based on said sampling. 54.The machine-readable storage according to claim 53, wherein said atleast one code section for processing signals comprises code for summingsamples resulting from said sampling to determine said power of each ofsaid at least a portion of said generated plurality of baseband signalsbased on said sampling narrowband signals.
 55. The machine-readablestorage according to claim 54, wherein said at least one code sectionfor processing signals comprises code for comparing said determinedpower of said each of said at least a portion of said generatedplurality of baseband signals to defined threshold values.
 56. Themachine-readable storage according to claim 55, wherein said at leastone code section for processing signals comprises code for selectingsaid final gain based on said comparing.
 57. The machine-readablestorage according to claim 55, wherein said at least one code sectionfor processing signals comprises code for selecting a comparable powervalue corresponding to one of said defined threshold values as saidfinal gain.
 58. The machine-readable storage according to claim 55,wherein said defined threshold values are stored in a lookup table. 59.The machine-readable storage according to claim 51, wherein said atleast one code section for processing signals comprises code fordetermining whether said corresponding digital signals is clipped duringa preamble portion of packets in said received RF signals.
 60. Themachine-readable storage according to claim 51, wherein said at leastone code section for processing signals comprises code for applying saidcalculated intermediate gain that enables said carrier sense detectionto each of said at least a portion of said generated plurality ofupstream narrowband signals.
 61. A system for processing signals in acommunication system, the system comprising: at least one circuitry thatgenerates a plurality of baseband signals from a received RF signal,wherein each of said generated baseband signals occupies a frequencyband that is narrow with respect to a frequency band of said received RFsignals; said at least one circuitry converts at least a portion of saidgenerated baseband signals to corresponding digital signals; said atleast one circuitry calculates an intermediate gain, which enablescarrier sense detection, for each of said at least a portion of saidgenerated baseband signals based on a power of each of saidcorresponding digital signals and based on whether said each of saidcorresponding digital signals is clipped; and said at least onecircuitry adjusts a final gain of said received RF signal based on saidcalculated intermediate gain of said each of said at least a portion ofsaid generated baseband signals.
 62. The system according to claim 61,wherein said at least one circuitry samples said each of said at least aportion of said generated plurality of baseband signals during atraining period.
 63. The system according to claim 62, wherein said atleast one circuitry determines a power of said each of said at least aportion of said generated plurality of baseband signals based on saidsampling.
 64. The system according to claim 63, wherein said at leastone circuitry sums samples resulting from said sampling to determinesaid power of each of said at least a portion of said generatedplurality of baseband signals based on said sampling narrowband signals.65. The system according to claim 64, wherein said at least onecircuitry compares said determined power of said each of said at least aportion of said generated plurality of baseband signals to definedthreshold values.
 66. The system according to claim 65, wherein said atleast one circuitry selects said final gain based on said comparing. 67.The system according to claim 65, wherein said at least one circuitryselects a comparable power value corresponding to one of said definedthreshold values as said final gain.
 68. The system according to claim65, wherein said defined threshold values are stored in a lookup table.69. The system according to claim 61, wherein said at least onecircuitry determines whether said corresponding digital signals isclipped during a preamble portion of packets in said received RFsignals.
 70. The system according to claim 61, wherein said at least onecircuitry applies said calculated intermediate gain that enables saidcarrier sense detection to each of said at least a portion of saidgenerated plurality of upstream narrowband signals.
 71. A method forprocessing signals in a communication system, the method comprising:generating a plurality of narrowband signals from a received RF signal;converting one or more of said narrowband signals to correspondingdigital signals; adjusting a final gain of a received RF signal based onan intermediate gain derived from said corresponding digitals signals,wherein said intermediate gain prevents clipping of and enable carriersense detection of said generated narrowband signals.
 72. The methodaccording to claim 71, wherein each of said plurality of narrowbandbaseband signals comprises a frequency bandwidth that is narrow withrespect to a frequency bandwidth of said RF signal.
 73. The methodaccording to claim 71, wherein said generated narrowband signalcomprises narrowband signals.
 74. The method according to claim 71,comprising determining a power of each of said corresponding digitalsignals.
 75. The method according to claim 71, comprising generatingsaid intermediate gain based on said determined power.
 76. The methodaccording to claim 71, comprising sampling one or more of said generatedplurality of narrowband signals during a training period.
 77. The methodaccording to claim 76, comprising determining a power of said one ormore of said generated plurality of narrowband signals based on saidsampling.
 78. The method according to claim 77, comprising summingsamples resulting from said sampling to determine said power of said oneor more of said generated plurality of narrowband signals.
 79. Themethod according to claim 78, comprising comparing said determined powerof said one or more of said generated plurality of narrowband signals todefined threshold values.
 80. The method according to claim 79,comprising selecting said final gain based on said comparing.
 81. Themethod according to claim 79, comprising selecting a comparable powervalue corresponding to one of said defined threshold values as saidfinal gain.
 82. The method according to claim 79, wherein said definedthreshold values are stored in a lookup table.
 83. The method accordingto claim 71, comprising determining whether said corresponding digitalsignals is clipped during a preamble portion of packets in said receivedRF signals.
 84. The method according to claim 71, comprising applyingsaid intermediate gain that enables said carrier sense detection to eachof said generated plurality of narrowband signals.
 85. Amachine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer programhaving at least one code section for processing signals in acommunication system, the at least one code section being executable bya machine for causing the machine to perform the steps comprising:generating a plurality of narrowband signals from a received RF signal;converting one or more of said narrowband signals to correspondingdigital signals; adjusting a final gain of a received RF signal based onan intermediate gain derived from said corresponding digitals signals,wherein said intermediate gain prevents clipping of and enable carriersense detection of said generated narrowband signals.
 86. Themachine-readable storage according to claim 85, wherein each of saidplurality of narrowband baseband signals comprises a frequency bandwidththat is narrow with respect to a frequency bandwidth of said RF signal.87. The machine-readable storage according to claim 85, wherein saidgenerated narrowband signal comprises narrowband signals.
 88. Themachine-readable storage according to claim 85, wherein said at leastone code section for processing signals comprises code for determining apower of each of said corresponding digital signals.
 89. Themachine-readable storage according to claim 85, wherein said at leastone code section for processing signals comprises code for generatingsaid intermediate gain based on said determined power.
 90. Themachine-readable storage according to claim 85, wherein said at leastone code section for processing signals comprises code for sampling oneor more of said generated plurality of narrowband signals during atraining period.
 91. The machine-readable storage according to claim 90,wherein said at least one code section for processing signals comprisescode for determining a power of said one or more of said generatedplurality of narrowband signals based on said sampling.
 92. Themachine-readable storage according to claim 91, wherein said at leastone code section for processing signals comprises code for summingsamples resulting from said sampling to determine said power of said oneor more of said generated plurality of narrowband signals.
 93. Themachine-readable storage according to claim 92, wherein said at leastone code section for processing signals comprises code for comparingsaid determined power of said one or more of said generated plurality ofnarrowband signals to defined threshold values.
 94. The machine-readablestorage according to claim 93, wherein said at least one code sectionfor processing signals comprises code for selecting said final gainbased on said comparing.
 95. The machine-readable storage according toclaim 93, wherein said at least one code section for processing signalscomprises code for selecting a comparable power value corresponding toone of said defined threshold values as said final gain.
 96. Themachine-readable storage according to claim 93, wherein said definedthreshold values are stored in a lookup table.
 97. The machine-readablestorage according to claim 85, wherein said at least one code sectionfor processing signals comprises code for determining whether saidcorresponding digital signals is clipped during a preamble portion ofpackets in said received RF signals.
 98. The machine-readable storageaccording to claim 85, wherein said at least one code section forprocessing signals comprises code for applying said intermediate gainthat enables said carrier sense detection to each of said generatedplurality of narrowband signals.
 99. A system for processing signals ina communication system, the system comprising: at least one circuitrythat generates a plurality of narrowband signals from a received RFsignal; said at least one circuitry converts one or more of saidnarrowband signals to corresponding digital signals; said at least onecircuitry adjusts a final gain of a received RF signal based on anintermediate gain derived from said corresponding digitals signals,wherein said intermediate gain prevents clipping of and enable carriersense detection of said generated narrowband signals.
 100. The systemaccording to claim 99, wherein each of said plurality of narrowbandbaseband signals comprises a frequency bandwidth that is narrow withrespect to a frequency bandwidth of said RF signal.
 101. The systemaccording to claim 99, wherein said generated narrowband signalcomprises narrowband signals.
 102. The system according to claim 99,wherein said at least one circuitry determines a power of each of saidcorresponding digital signals.
 103. The system according to claim 99,wherein said at least one circuitry generates said intermediate gainbased on said determined power.
 104. The system according to claim 99,wherein said at least one circuitry samples one or more of saidgenerated plurality of narrowband signals during a training period. 105.The system according to claim 104, wherein said at least one circuitrydetermines a power of said one or more of said generated plurality ofnarrowband signals based on said sampling.
 106. The system according toclaim 105, wherein said at least one circuitry sums samples resultingfrom said sampling to determine said power of said one or more of saidgenerated plurality of narrowband signals.
 107. The system according toclaim 106, wherein said at least one circuitry compares said determinedpower of said one or more of said generated plurality of narrowbandsignals to defined threshold values.
 108. The system according to claim107, wherein said at least one circuitry selects said final gain basedon said comparing.
 109. The system according to claim 107, wherein saidat least one circuitry selects a comparable power value corresponding toone of said defined threshold values as said final gain.
 110. The systemaccording to claim 107, wherein said defined threshold values are storedin a lookup table.
 111. The system according to claim 99, wherein saidat least one circuitry determines whether said corresponding digitalsignals is clipped during a preamble portion of packets in said receivedRF signals.
 112. The system according to claim 99, wherein said at leastone circuitry applies said intermediate gain that enables said carriersense detection to each of said generated plurality of narrowbandsignals.